Travel Offsets

Starting to plan your summer trip but still want to factor in your greenness? Consider something more closer to home where you can easily and efficiently travel by car or have a train trip adventure!

I want to visit my sister...or have her come out to LA. The sistaXhood have been physically separated too long (and I'm sure our mother misses Z's face, too). Mother's Day? Memorial Day? As much as I love train trips, a train trip up north isn't worth it over a 3-day weekend. Boo. Same goes for a bus trip, if I ever decide to go that route. Driving is feasible but I hate having to deal with a car in SF. Plus, the reason I go up to SF is to enjoy their convenient public transport. Plane it is, as per usual, but it's definitely not the greenest option. But however you decide to travel, take the extra step in offsetting your carbon emissions via NativeEnergy

Along with scoping out airline ticket prices I've also been calculating how much carbon my trip would be emitting/contributing into the atmosphere.


Once on the site, click on "Travel Calculator" (the second box with that plane picture) and pick your travel method of choice. According to Native Energy my round-trip flight to SF would be about 696 miles total. My carbon emissions? 0.278 tons.
Cost to offset my carbon emissions? A mere $12. This will go towards funding renewable energy sources to counter your pollution like wind power, farm methane, or a combo of the two. Not too shabby a price to pay for carbon neutrality, if you ask me. I'd be paying double though, to offset on my mother's behalf if she were coming along.

It's really neat, convenient, and practical. You can even calculate your work commute, emissions your home energy, and general lifestyle! (Click the 'individual' tab).

Definitely use this for any of your travel plans and your everyday living! And if you're flying, some airlines have carbon emission offset programs of their own so check those out if they're available!

Lights Out

Tomorrow (March 29th) @ 8pm (your local time), everyone is encouraged to join in on Earth Hour and turn off your lights and non-essential appliances for ONE HOUR in solidarity for electricity conservation (households and businesses alike)!

Last year's Earth Hour (created by the World Wildlife Fund) was held in Sydney, Australia where more than 2 million people flipped the switch. They even got 48,000 cars off the road for that hour. Can you believe it? Hooray for lower carbon emissions!

Need to light the way during Earth Hour? Light up some beeswax candles (they swell oh-so-sweet) and make shadow puppets, read a cook by candlelight like in the olden days, have conversation...or just have a makeout session...you know, whatever floats your boat.